What’s up with all the rain and cool temperatures (not to mention whispers of snow in the high country)? It seems that monsoonal moisture has found us here in the Northern Rockies and is wrecking havoc on the last few weeks of our proper summer. Typically here in Jackson and the surrounding area, summer is filled with sunshine and the occasional brief thunderstorm/rain shower. Sure, we might get a wet day here or there, but most of our moisture comes from snow in the late fall, winter and spring. Summer = sunshine and pleasant evenings. Lately the rain has been coming down in sheets, testing out the toughest of Gor-tex wearing fishermen. Just when the Snake was fishing awesome, and I mean awesome- big flies, in the sun, while wearing sandals- this weather pattern comes along and slows things down. Fishing’s still good, but the past week challenged anglers a bit more than usual. There were no easy ones, no second chances. Each fish had to be earned. It looks like the forecast will be improving in the next few days; good news for anglers and guides hoping to get in a few more shorts and sandal days on the water.

I’ve been staying busy (and sort of dry) lately guiding folks on my usual haunts. For the most part, days have been good. Especially for guests like Joe who fished with me for a few days over in Dubois. Another memorable day was spent with Dave and his wife Jean from ME. I introduced Dave to the Green river, helping his catch several nice trout, including the brown in the photo below. The next few weeks look busy and hopefully folks will have fun as I try and help them get a few fish!

Not bad for a sporting gentleman in his 80s….

As we close out July, the fishing around here is red hot. I’ve been busy taking folks fishing on a variety of waters around here in Wyoming. Both the Green and Snake rivers are providing folks with good fishing; smaller waters are also great too. We’ve caught some really nice brown trout down on the Green, mainly fishing subsurface. The Snake’s really turned on too. Dry fly fishing on it with big foam/attractor patterns is the best I’ve seen in a while.

In addition to the float fishing, I also got to get out of town for a few days, taking long-time return client and friend, Andrew, from Houston, TX over to the cabin in Dubois for a few days of fly fishing. We fished some of my favorite waters; getting waaaay off the beaten path, where native Yellowstone Cutthroat trout rose aggressively to various dry flies. The fish weren’t huge, but there were some nice ones and they kept us busy all day long. It was a great few days and nice to over to Dubois.

Andrew showing off a beautiful Yellowstone Cutthroat trout…. 

Off the beaten path…

The upcoming weeks should continue to provide guests with some great fishing. I’m looking forward to more fun days watching clients pound the banks of the Snake with large foam patterns, as well as some more overnight trips to Dubois.

After taking some great folks fishing up in Yellowstone last
week, including a fun return client from Texas,  AND providing
my brother and his lovely wife a luxurious comfortable futon for a few
days, I found myself with two free days and a desire to check
on a favorite native cutthroat stream of mine. Jamie joined
me and boy did we have a great day. Long slow pools were full
of eager Snake River Finespotted cutthroat trout. We traded
casts, throwing big, bushy Stimulators and Sofa Pillows to
likely runs and rising trout. All in all a great way to spend a
Monday; capped off with streamside cans of cold Coors.
Today’s another beauty here in Jackson Hole. I’m gearing up
for some guided trips this week into the Shoshone National
Forest with guests. Should be a blast fishing dry flies to wild,
aggressive fish. In the meantime, I got a brisket smoking I
should get back too. Happy 4th to everyone!

Mark celebrates his birthday in style with a Firehole
brown trout. Abundant caddis made for fun fishing and the
Grizzly sighting only added to a fine day on the water!

Jamie releases a jewel of a cutthroat trout.

 

Jamie hooking up on a nice pool. It seemed every
fish in the stream wanted her fly!

It seems like we’ve stumbled into summer around here.
Temperatures in Jackson Hole lately have been around 70 and
daily sunshine is melting away our snowpack. While rivers in
the region remain high, there are certainly plenty of fishy
options.

First evenin’ fish of the summer! This beautiful
brown trout inspected my size 6 Sofa Pillow three times before
deciding to take the tiny Copper John dropper…

For the next month and a half (well really all
season), Yellowstone National Park is a great place to
go fly fishing. Waters in the southwestern part of the park
(Firehole, Madison, Lewis, Gibbon, Nez Perce) all fish best this
time of year, providing anglers with good hatches of PMDs and
caddis. The Firehole canyon also gets a salmonfly hatch at the
end of the month. If you’re into casting BIG dry flies, this can
be a fun place to be. Area lakes are also fishing well around
the valley. Most smaller, hike-in lakes below 8,000 feet are
free of ice and crystal clear. These are fun to spend a day at;
pack your lunch, a fly rod and do a little exploring. Jamie and I
hiked into Bearpaw lake in the Tetons the other afternoon.
Fish were active, but so were the mosquitos!

After a long hike in to this fantastic Yellowstone
cutthroat fishery, I found half the lake ice free. Quickly rigging
up a rod, I landed a nice bright cutt. Unfortunately storms
rolled in with high winds, snow and sleet, forcing a hasty
retreat.

The Grizzlies bears are out and about. This guy was
feeding on grass along Togwotee pass..

We’re headed out this afternoon to the fishing cabin in
Dubois to get it ready for summer guests. Also planning on
checking some trout waters… More to come…

Many know that Lake trout are predatory, feeding on smaller
fish as well as many other things. My unscientific study
confirmed this the other day when I cleaned a Laker for dinner.
It seems this time of year smaller fish and leeches make up a
good portion of their diet. So for all of you getting out this
upcoming weekend to cast at cruising lakers, it might be a good
idea to fish white/blue/olive baitfish patterns and simple leech
patterns…

and yes, the grilled Lake trout was delicious